


hope to turn again

by wheredwellthe_brave_atheart



Category: Chronicles of Narnia (Movies), Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types, Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-17
Updated: 2014-05-17
Packaged: 2018-01-25 10:09:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1644959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wheredwellthe_brave_atheart/pseuds/wheredwellthe_brave_atheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set of short moments spanning the time between falling out of the wardrobe and stepping through the tree. The Pevensies try to adjust to an ever-changing set of circumstances.</p>
            </blockquote>





	hope to turn again

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Chronicles of Narnia world, created by C.S.Lewis. I do not claim ownership over the word or any characters used. I am not profiting in any way from this work, it is my own invention and for entertainment only, and it is not purported to be a part of C.S. Lewis’s official story line. 
> 
> Title from T.S. Eliot's "Ash Wednesday".

They go striding in with purpose and grace, confident in the adventure that surely lay before them. 

They come crashing out in a tangle of sharp elbows and knocked foreheads, with much cursing and gasping. 

The floor is hard and unforgiving on their knees and palms and hearts. 

...

"We're all fine here, Mum, really."  
It's sad how often he spouts that one. 

It's sad how often she believes him. 

...

"Ed," Lucy says lightly. "Can you still see me?"  
He glances up. "Always," he assures her, and catches her bright gaze.  
"You're still in there, too," she nods. "We're all still here, just a little further back." 

...  
Peter catches Susan as she stumbles in the Professor's hall. 

"Thank-you, Peter," she whispers, closing her eyes.  
He tries to speak, but only remembers her grace as she walked the halls of the Cair. 

...

"Oh," Lucy stutters, "Oh, I didn't mean-" And she bursts into tears. 

Mrs Macready fishes out a piece of peppermint for her and doesn't ask. 

...

"Peter?" There's a soft knock at the door.  
Peter squints in the half-darkness. "What is it, Lu?" he asks, regaining patterns of fifteen years past, when his youngest sister was afraid of this old house at night.  
But it's Susan.  
He flips over and she lays next to him, making herself as small as possible in the cramped bed, burying her face against him and breathing into the hollow of his throat.  
He puts his arms around her. 

...

Peter looks round when Edmund starts laughing.  
"What is it?" he asks.  
"It's raining," Edmund chokes out.  
Soon Peter is laughing, too. "Let's play hide-and-seek."  
When Susan and Lucy discover the pair positively howling with mirth, they don't quite know what to make of them. 

...

Susan comes across a book of poetry in one of the Professor's rooms one afternoon. She finds it comforting.  
'Because I do not hope to turn again,' the book said. 'Because I do not hope to turn...' 

...

Their mother hugs them close, and proclaims how much they've all grown. 

Peter imagines he can feel his compressed spine, his skinny shoulders, his thin limbs actually pressing in on him.  
But then he spots the incredulous expression on Lucy's tiny face and has to hold back a laugh. 

...

"School," Edmund breathes, his face draining of colour. "I didn't think- How can we go back there?"  
Susan takes his hand. "Together. We can do it together." 

...

Lucy drops on her old bed in defeat.  
"I want my rooms," she sobs, and Susan just hugs her tight and agrees. 

...

"He's resolved not to speak for at least a month, maybe more," Lucy giggles. "He thinks he can wait it out."  
"You know, I had quite forgotten how fun it is to tease him about this. And last time we only got a few months of him squeaking. At least now we can appreciate it again."  
"It's not funny," Edmund splutters from the next room.  
Lucy desperately tries to smother her laughter. 

...

Their mother sees, but doesn't know. 

...

"Pete's going to get himself killed carrying on like this. D'you know he picked a fight with the entire football team over at St. Allister's because one bloke bumped into him? You have to talk to him, he won't listen to me."  
"And what makes you think he'll listen to me?" Susan replies.  
Edmund just raises one well-trained eyebrow and waits for her to admit it.

...

"Yes, Mother wants me to make more friends," Lucy sighs. "I really don't know how to explain things to her."  
The trees don't answer her here. 

...

Everything itches. Her shoes and her sheets and her clothes and her plaits and her socks and her skin. She steps into a puddle and longs for the shore beside the Cair. 

...

Of course she would be called back to Narnia wearing unmatched socks.  
She strips them off on the beach and sinks her toes into the hot sand, breathing sea air into her lungs and cursing wool with all her might. 

...

'"Come on, come on, we're missing it!"'she exclaims.  
He snorts and grabs her hand. "We're drunk."  
"So? So's everyone else, and that's exactly why the badgers are attempting to breathe fire. Come on!"'  
He lets her pull him along, but he still presses a haphazard kiss to her knuckles as they stumble breathlessly toward the main ballroom.' 

Edmund hears those footsteps echoing loudly across the ruins. Hears their laughter and voices and song and howls and chirps, and the clash of swords, the thunk of arrows, the beat of drums. 

He sees an overgrown and crumbling courtyard. 

...

"Pull," Susan says.  
Edmund obliges, tossing an apple up for her. She spins, takes an arrow, and shoots in one fluid motion.  
The apple falls with an arrow through the centre.  
Susan twists it out, offering him the fruit.

...

Caspian spies Peter sitting under a beech tree the morning after the siege on Miraz's castle, head bowed and hands clasped. 

...

Cut slash jab  
wrench stab stab spin  
step lunge jerk pull Peter, Magnificent, long sword and heavy shield, leading the charge charge charge twist leap  
stab yank SLICED CHEECK duck run pound pound pounding head Ed, Edmund fighting with two swords like some long-buried legend LEG TWISTED test it move  
smash his helmet strike him down down down fly Susan's arrows, swifter than comets falling to the Earth  
hurry now Caspian cut slash jab wrench stab 

...

Lucy's heart thrums in time with the land. Her bones echo and joy pulses through her veins, a beat that sings of home, home, home. They ride through the streets of their once-kingdom, delirious with relief.  
Caspian, bewildered but proud, accepts the euphoria around him with the calm of a new leader.  
Peter rides straight and tall, the burden of doubt thrust from his shoulders to be replaced with peace and surety.  
Susan's laugh is a bell that could summon the stars, could cause their light to gather around her, adding to her own glow.  
Edmund, King Edmund the Just, rides beside her, and allows the glory of the cheers and shouts and music of life to encompass him. 

...

It takes both a second and an age to pass through the tree. 

...  
Susan used to think Mr Barrie's 'Peter and Wendy' was about the boy. Now, more than ever, she understands that the story belongs to Wendy Moira Angela Darling. She who was brave, kind, clever, and loyal, she who wove the tales that changed their story, she who was cast out of Neverland and forced to go forth, wondering. She who was forced to grow up.  
'She did so with dignity, at least,' Susan thought, tugging at her school uniform and hefting her book bag to rush onto the train carriage. 'She didn't let Neverland take her future.'  
She took her place beside her siblings.  
...

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I would be eternally grateful for reviews.


End file.
